A clear picture of a completely different Louisville football team has been revealed with each day this week.

Saturday afternoon will expose how much that matters on the field.

On Sunday, the Cardinals dismissed head coach Bobby Petrino. Monday — the team met with interim head coach Lorenzo Ward. Tuesday, the Cards unveiled an explosion of energy on the practice field. Wednesday, they spoke more about where that energy came from.

“You can tell it’s a lot more lighthearted, a lot more energetic, a lot more geared toward enjoying it and having fun and teaching instead of pounding our legs and running and running,” senior receiver Jaylen Smith said.

Louisville is 2-8, and if that seemed to matter to the players returning home Saturday to face NC State, it might weigh on them again. But they have treated this week as the fresh start they so desperately needed during a seven-game losing streak.

During the lowest points of this season, the players have spoken mostly about staying together and trying to compete. Infused with a burst of momentum this week, they have started thinking about winning the game again.

“Two games left, I feel like our team is thinking we’re 0-0,” receiver Dez Fitzpatrick said. “I think that’s a good mindset to have, just put the rest of the season behind us.”

The Cards are 16.5-point underdogs Saturday against a 6-3 NC State team. When they trudged off the field at Syracuse last weekend, it would have been hard to imagine them even hanging that close.

But everything has changed, and a bottom-dwelling team has to hope those changes are reflected on the scoreboard.

But they have played three of their last four games against no-huddle offenses, and the other was against a Clemson offense with plenty of window-dressing itself. Before that span, Louisville had to deal with Georgia Tech’s triple-option.

This week’s test is a more conventional offense led by a future pro in Ryan Finley. This season, Wake Forest is snapping the ball every 20 seconds, Syracuse every 21.9, Boston College every 22.7, even Clemson every 23.9.

NC State is much slower, at 26.4 seconds per snap. The Wolfpack rank 47th in the FBS with 30.4 points per game, the fewest of any of Louisville’s opponents since Florida State on Sept. 29.

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That doesn't guarantee Louisville’s defense will fare better this week. But it is another reason for optimism.

Ward has also hinted at simplifying the defense, another necessary adjustment for a unit that has been liable to give up big plays at any moment over the past six weeks.

“I just think we got to do what the kids can do, and I think that’s something that Coach (Brian) VanGorder and the defensive staff and I who have been in that room are trying to do,” Ward said. “We want to make sure we do the things that those guys can do on defense, and that makes it simpler. If they understand what they’re doing, then they can play fast and it’ll be a simpler plan as far as what we do on defense.”

In making preparations simpler this week, Ward also made them more fun. He called for a one-on-one drill in practice Tuesday that was a hit with the players. He has also seemed to get through to the players with his message to loosen up Saturday.